The Charge

Buried beneath the sand is the answer to a mystery more dangerous than anyone
could possibly understand. And no one is better at not understanding things than
the Reds and Blues.

Opening Statement

Although this series is based on, and uses animation from, the popular Xbox
game Halo, you don't need to so much as pick up a controller to enjoy
Red vs. Blue. The protagonist of Halo, Master Chief, and the
storyline the game revolves around, is nowhere to be found in the Red vs.
Blue series; instead, all the action takes place at a remote outpost where
two support teams (the Reds and the Blues) are stationed. The Reds, led by gruff
commander Sarge, must flush out and defeat the Blues, lead by the wily but
impulsive Church, who has a bad habit of getting killed all the time. The team
name comes from their uniform colors. They all have varying shades of Red
(pink?) or Blue (purple!) to denote their allegiance.

Facts of the Case

It's Red team versus Blue team, and every man is in it for himself.

Blue Team: In this season there is only Caboose, who began Season One
as a fairly normal guy, but quickly devolved into an accident-prone simpleton
with an inability to grasp reality on most days. Somehow he is able to get an
artificial intelligence of Church (his former leader) working, though with a
flawed understanding of past events, as evidenced by his belief that Caboose is
his best friend.

Red Team: Sarge (the only one wearing true Red) is military through
and through, but his years of service have made him punchy and reckless; he
often exhibits a lack of forethought in his hare-brained schemes. Long suffering
Grif (in yellow) doesn't want to fight, maintain weapons or equipment, or do
much of anything Sarge wants him to do, so he spends most of his time thinking
of ways to get out of work. Simmons (maroon) is the golden boy, doing what Sarge
wants and hating Grif for being lazy. The unfortunate Donut (in "light
red" which is really pink) is eager to prove himself, but he has never
lived down his armour color or his gullible nature. Finally, there is Lopez (in
dark armor), a robot Sarge assembled, but then clumsily botched his speech
center install so that he only speaks in Spanish, and bad Spanish at that. As
the only intelligent one on the team other than Simmons, Lopez has it the worst
of all, since no one can understand a word he says (usually, though some have
"selective understanding" going on).

The DVD main menu contains a 4-part mini-series, "Relocated,"
which should be watched first.

Also listed as a stand-alone on the main menu is "Recreation
Trailer"—this is really a prologue to the season, providing a
transition from the events of last season and establishing where Season 7
begins. Watch this before the regular season episodes.

The Evidence

Red vs. Blue (also known as RvB) is perhaps the most well-known
machinima on the Internet. Machinima, animation produced using three-dimensional
graphics engines such as games or virtual worlds, was not new in 2003, but I
can't remember really paying attention to the genre before I saw my first Red
vs. Blue. From the first episode, they were a big hit, and creators Burnie
Burns, Geoff Fink, and Gus Sorola have since created hundreds of episodes, eight
full seasons, several mini-series, and dozens of special videos, far exceeding
their initial plans an expectations for a single season story arc.

I really dig the sense of humor in Red vs. Blue—seeing the
idiotic situations these guys entangle themselves in, their petty bickering, and
the verbal beatings they give each other has me in tears sometimes from laughing
so hard. It's a verbal slapstick—what they can't express with facial
expressions, they must do with words, which is harder than it sounds. The
creative force behind the series is amazing—great writing, excellent voice
talent, and superb direction. Considering that the Reds and Blues spend most of
their time running back and forth from Red base to Blue base, a lot rides on the
dialog and voice acting to give emotional depth to the story. This is married
smartly to the animation direction. Did I mention they have to use a video game
to animate everything? It is a huge undertaking, and I have great respect that
these episodes manage to have a compelling cinematography as well as humor.

To get a true RvB experience, watch all the episodes (available at
the Rooster Teeth website) from episode one in the Blood Gulch
Chronicles. At the very least start watching Season 6,
Reconstruction, since Season 7 is the middle part of a trilogy that
involves a new character, Washington, and a new story arc about the Freelancer
project that Tex was a part of. Caboose does fill in some backstory,
but…c'mon, it's Caboose, how helpful is that, really?

The DVD packaging and menu design is well done—bursting with color,
and each of the menus are animated and have an easter egg if you wait around for
a minute or so. Overall, a very professional production. The quality of video
and sound is excellent, as well, especially considering that this is an Internet
based machinima. The voices of the characters are all tinny (by design, since
they are talking into their helmet comm units), but there's a lot of good stereo
separation for sound sources. The video is also very clear, even on the big
screen. There is obviously some in-game video pixellation, but the quality of
the transfer is what counts, and this is good.

The DVD menu offers the standard Chapter Selection, and a "Play
Movie" option for watching the main season episodes. However, before you do
that, check out "RvB: Relocated" and "Recreation Trailer"
(in that order), also accessible from the main menu.

RvB: Relocated (20 minutes) This is a mini-series that actually
takes place before the events in Recreation Season 7. It establishes the
return of Donut and the underground holographic imaging room you see in the main
season episodes. I love the wide-open feel of the direction here—a lot of
scenery and backgrounds are included, and there are some nice wide shots and
overheads that gave this a very theatrical feel. In the commentary, they point
out that Gavin Free entirely directed these.

Recreation Trailer (2 minutes) This is more like a prologue to
Season 7, featuring Church and Tex (who do not actually appear in Season 7) and
setting the scene for events about to unfold. Watch this before watching the
season episodes.

Play Movie (1.5 hours) I really like that when you play the
season episodes, they play seamlessly, instead of as a series of short episodes
with individual introductions, so you get an hour and thirty minutes of
uninterrupted entertainment.

Bonus Features Here you can access the Audio Commentary for the
main season episodes, Outtakes from voice recording sessions, Deleted Scenes
(including a sneak appearance by Doc!), and Special Videos (formerly known as
PSAs) "Halo-ween," "Thanksgiving 2008," "You Had Me At
Halo," "Add It Up," and "Where There's
Smoke…"—each are about two minutes long. Do not miss the
deleted scene where Lopez repeatedly suggests that he get an English voice
processor, but Sarge doesn't understand him and keeps insisting on increasingly
crazy schemes to defeat the Blues.

Closing Statement

Grif would tell you to check this out, or not, it doesn't matter. Sarge would
say that watching would be the perfect plan, like facing down a platoon of Green
Berets! Caboose would probably misunderstand the question and repeat it to
himself a few times, and Donut would make you a cup of tea and invite you to
relax and enjoy the movie. My advice: watch it, love it.

The Verdict

Not guilty simply for that scene where Sarge makes Grif climb dangerously
high and he cries like a girl the whole time.